We visited Gettysburg, PA on our way home from Boston. My favorite movie when I was younger was the movie Gettysburg starring Jeff Daniels as Colonial Joshua L. Chamberlain and Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee. Sam Elliot played the union cavalryman James Buford and has since been one of my favorite actors. I first read the book Killer Angels when I was 13 and have had a fascination with the civil war since I was a young boy.
The Battlefield, to me, is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it’s just amazing to see the place that I’ve read about in books and seen in the movies. The battlefields, of course, didn’t look anything like I expected them to look. Even though I was familiar with the major skirmishes and major actors, I still couldn’t get a sense of what was happening by looking at those battlefield maps in books and on the history channel. You really need to be there to get a sense of what was going on. I didn’t even realize that the Devil’s Den was right across from Little Round Top!! Second, the park is amazing because it covers 25 square miles and has a vast amount of monuments. You wouldn’t believe the monuments, one for probably every regiment that served during the battle. They’ve paved a road along where the main Confederate line was encamped and it helps to drive it and really get a sense of how stretched out Lee’s army was during the battle. Also amazingly, you can rent a personal guide for your car for 2 hours for 45 dollars!
I would really like to go back and see a reenactment or maybe spend some time reenacting. Is that too geeky?
It was a real treat for me to be able to meet, quite by chance, Author of God’s & Generals and The Last Full Measure, Jeff Sharra. After we finished our tour of the battlefield, we decided to walk around town and get ice cream. We noticed a large white tent with a placard underneath that said, “Friends of Gettysburg”. And who did we spy sitting at the table signing autographs? None other than Jeff Sharra author of Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure himself!
Later, after iced cream, we came back and I was able to meet Edwin Bearss, the pied piper of civil war history himself!
It was a great day.
